Setting Up the Singularity Engine
Welcome to responsibility! So, you have decided to play as an Engineer that actually does their job instead of stealing the RCD and going crazy? Good decision, hopefully the Station won't lose power as quickly now. Preparations after login. Right, the first thing you need to do is get yourself a Hardsuit. There two in Engineering Hardsuits in the power control room. If you're the Chief Engineer, you have an Advanced Hardsuit in your office, along with some nice shiny Magboots. Yes you do have to help if you're the Chief. You can delegate tasks, you're the boss after all, but you do have to do at least something. Okay, so you have your Hardsuit on. You're ready to start up the containment field, but first you have to get something very important. Take an Oxygen tank from the dispenser in the power room, open the valve, and place it in your Suit Storage slot. (You are wearing the Hardsuit and O2 mask, right?) This large O2 tank should last you the entire round, but for roleplaying purposes you should take your Hardsuit off as soon as the engine is on. Suits like that are not comfortable to move around in at all. Now you are ready. Leave via the one of the two airlocks at the bottom of Engineering, next to the Radiation Collectors. I suggest you WALK out here, as one slip could send you drifting. (Unless you're the Chief, in which case, Toggle your Magboots) Remember that you can change your drift direction by throwing something in the direction you want to go away from. Your toolbelt has a large variety of useful objects. (note - you will need your wrench, screwdriver, and wires.) The Containment Field. So you are outside, and you haven't frozen or suffocated. Great job. You will see a bunch of useless grates, some wires, and a sort of turret-looking thing. The only thing of interest to you right now is the Field Emitter, that's the turret. Click it with an empty hand to turn it on. You do not want to stand in front of it when it fires as the laser will burn you. Once you've turned it on, you can lock the controls by clicking on it with your ID in hand. This will prevent anyone without engineering access, including the AI, from turning the emitters off and releasing the singularity. There are four of these to set up. Don't bother taking the extras from storage, these four will work just fine on their own. Right, the Emitters are all turned on, and the strange pillars now have a green bar. Go click the pillars with an empty hand, remembering that the emitters can blind you if you're shot by them. If at any time you are within one tile of the field between two activated Generators, you will be electrocuted, you will go flying, your heart may stop from the electrocution. Lucky for you, these Generators take a bit of time to start up once you click them. Use the time to get away from any danger areas. Getting stuck inside the completed Containment Field is a VERY stupid thing to do, and if this happens you deserve to get eaten by the singularity when someone else turns it on. Okay, the Confield is up. Time to setup the Particle Accelerator. The Particle Accelerator. The Particle Accelerator is in the room in the center of Engineering. Make sure you have your Optical Meson Scanners on. There is a pair on the floor just outside this room on the left, and several pairs in various lockers around Engineering. The Chief has a pair on his desk. Use the wrench to secure all of the pieces in their original positions. If (when) you push a piece, pull and rotate it back into position. Once you have all of these pieces secured, you need to add some wiring to each piece. Do so. Now, close all of the panels with your screwdriver. Good job, the Particle Accelerator is now ready to go. Receiving Power Before you can start up the Accelerator, you must first make sure you are generating power, otherwise all your work was for nought. Take five Plasma Tanks from the dispenser in the power control room, now put them in the Radiation Collectors (click on the collector with a Plasma tank in hand) and then turn them on. (click on the collector with an empty hand) A purple screen should slide out of the collector when activated. When the Collectors are turned off, you can remove the Plasma tanks with a Crowbar. It's a good idea to ask the Chief Engineer to open up secure storage, located to the left of the SMES cells, so you can gain access to the plasma canister. By filling the plasma tanks from the canister before putting them into the radiation collectors, you will boost the power output of the singularity and reduce the need for changing the tanks. Make sure you check the plasma tanks every 20 minutes or so and make sure they're not running low - the amount of power generated is directly proprtional to the amount of plasma in the tanks, and you can guarantee shit will hit the fan just as the SMES cells begin to get low on juice. Now go and setup the SMES units in the power control room. That's the three large white things with meters and buttons at the top of this room. You'll want to set the Input to 150,000 and set it as Auto, then set the output to 100,000 for all three of the cells. This will ensure that these SMES units (essentially giant rechargable batteries) output enough power to run the station, whilst taking in enough to store for a long time in case of emergency. (usually sabotage or admins thinking the round is too boring) The SMES can function if you set them to 200,000, but sometimes the Singularity doesn't generate enough power. (If the available power is only 1W below the selected input, it will not charge) You are now ready to start up the giant swirling vortex of doom. Starting her up. (Forming the Singularity) Go back to the Particle Accelerator. Click the control panel with an empty hand. If it detects missing parts, click refresh. If there are still missing parts after this, scroll back up to the "The Particle Accelerator" section. Set the power to 2 (maximum) and turn it on. Now head to the bottom of the room. You will see bursts of purple particles exiting the emitter and flying towards the Singularity Generator. Now we play the waiting game. Once the singularity forms, it is but a tiny 1x1 reddish baby vortex. Aww, so cute! But it is of no use to us at this point. Wait some more. "Oh wow, it grew! it is now a reddish 3x3 vortex." Nice, but not quite good enough. Wait some more. (This is the point at which most people turn down the power. This does not work. Nine times out of ten, the Singularity will shrink to 1x1 and you will get no power) "Oh gods, it's beautiful! The singularity is now a massive 5x5 purple vortex with a pulsating red core. It is perfect!" Do not worry, you are perfectly safe as long as the containment field stays on and you are still wearing a Hardsuit (for the radiation) and Meson Scanners. (if your character looks into the singularity without them, you can pass out) Now is the time to turn down the power. Go back to the Accelerator control panel. Turn the power down to 0, and leave the Accelerator on. If you turn it off, BAD. THINGS. HAPPEN. Congratulations! You have just setup the Singularity Engine! Power for all! On your way out, make sure to hit one of the buttons next to the particle accelerator doorway to close the blast doors. This will stop any ne'er-do-wells from turning the accelerator back on and creating a monster, and stop radiation from the singularity leaking into the room and poisoning everyone. But wait, more power is needed. Keep your Hardsuit and O2, and grab a few coils of wire. It's time for Setting up the Solar Arrays. "I forgot to turn the power down... The singularity just grew into a giant blue 7x7 vortex of doom." You sir, are screwed. Call the emergency shuttle - if you can. This thing pulls EVERYTHING in range towards it. Including things that are bolted or welded to the station. Such as the containment field generators. It is now free. It even rips walls from the floor. Engineering now has no atmosphere. Calling the shuttle at this point is a VERY GOOD IDEA. Sometimes the singularity will wander off into space, or it can be destroyed with a Bag of Holding (researched by R+D), but don't hold your breath. Notes. *You need to be wearing Optical Meson Scanners when the Singularity is online. Looking directly at the Singularity without them can cause you to pass out. If you are outside when this happens, you will die as to look into the singularity, your character must be close enough for the singularity's gravity to affect you. *As well wear a Radiation Suit, so that the radiation of the Singularity does not harm you. *An Engineering Hardsuit can also be used as protection against the radiation. *If the Singularity gets loose and eats a lot, it WILL cause lag. In this case, it may be made to disappear magically. (by an admin, although this is very unlikely) *The Singularity is also known for turning headsets off. You'll have to wait a couple of minutes to turn it back on. Category:Guides Category:Maintenance